Five Ways to Optimize Enterprise Wi-Fi

Use Software-Programmable, Dual-Band Radios

Getting to 5GHz is becoming a necessity for many companies, as more and more new devices support 802.11ac. But in the long run, it does little good to have all your 5GHz-enabled devices using 802.11ac when only half the radios in your infrastructure are capable of doing so. Today, most APs ship with one legacy 2.4GHz radio and one 5GHz radio.

To combat "stale radio syndrome" in your infrastructure, you should look for APs with radios that can operate in either band and can be software programmed to do so. This allows you to deploy APs today with one radio operating at 5GHz and the other at 2.4GHz to support legacy devices. In the not too distant future, you'll be able to begin moving those 2.4GHz AP radios to 5GHz as more 802.11ac devices show up. Then ultimately, you'll be able to operate a 5GHz-only network.

Companies rely on Wi-Fi now more than ever to drive operations and ultimately business growth. Whether it is collaborating with colleagues or clients, managing customer success, or accessing any number of business applications and services on the market, companies recognize that when the Internet lags, the business lags.

Therefore, reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi is of utmost importance to companies, as it enables employee productivity. But not all companies understand the ins and outs necessary to make this a reality. Today, enterprises must consider a number of new factors if they hope to deploy reliable, high-performance Wi-Fi networks that meet spikes in traffic and mobile usage. In this slideshow, Dirk Gates, founder of Xirrus, provides five tips to optimize your enterprise Wi-Fi network.

Cost reduction has been the main driver of IIoT adoption. Other contributors are the emergence of ancillary and complementary technologies, including low-power hardware devices, the cloud, Big Data analytics, robotics and automation and smart sensors. ... More >>